Luvlee Says: Remember us on the Fourth of July!

I, Luvlee Cat, was having great fun diving into this pile of material one day while my mom took pictures of me. In the photos, my beautiful white fur against the colorful fabric makes the red-white-and-blue colors of Fourth of July. So now I've got mom (her name is Jan, and sometimes I have to help her write this blog) posting this special message to remind all of you humans that, while it's fine to celebrate things, you gotta be careful of the critters, too.

You see, people aren't really as bright as Cats, but we give them slack because they're only human. And for some strange reason that Cats have never been able to figure out, humans like to make a lot of noise that serves no purpose whatsoever (as opposed to Cat sounds which always have a deeply meaningful purpose, to Cats). And Fourth of July, with all those fireworks around, is a noisy time of year!

Now this is probably okay for humans, who are really rather dense, but most critters, and we Cats especially, have very sensitive hearing. You don't need to blow things up to get our attention! Now, I'm a pretty Brave Cat, and very smart, too, so I would never do anything silly just because of a little noise. But some critters - and we all know Dogs are really, really stupid* so you know who I'm talking about - can get so scared from fireworks, they'll hurt themselves!

That's right, every year around this time, my mom reads stories in the newspaper and tells me about them: About how critters run out in the street and get hit by cars, or strangle themselves to death trying to get out of a fence, or just get so nervous and upset they won't eat and then they become sick. It's true! This really upsets my Mom, because she's pretty sensitive (for a human), and besides she gets scared from those old fireworks, and I have to cuddle up and take care of her.

My mom forwarded me an e-mail letter she got from her friend Shirley Scott. It told how wild birds get so scared, they fly away from their nests and never come back and the babies starve! Oh, the thought of this is giving me palpitations ... no birds! I am so shocked, shocked, I've got to go lie down and take a nap .....

Okay, I'm back now and while I was snoozing I came up with another very important idea to add to Luvlee's Truths about Life: A backyard without Birds is no place for a Cat

If Cats ruled the world, there wouldn't be any useless noisy things, and we wouldn't have to worry about scared Dogs and even scared Cats (not all of my kind are as brave as me), and certainly not No Birds. But since humans aren't wise enough (yet) to let go of all that control that's driving them crazy, we have to give out these reminders every year:

• When fireworks are going off, stay home with your critters if you can, so you can all keep each other safe and calm.
• If you can't stay, please make sure they're in a safe place where they can't get out into the wide world where no one is watching out for them.
• Play some soothing music to help calm things down.
• If you have a critter who's really, really sensitive, maybe a pet doctor can prescribe something to help calm the nerves.

Please take care of your animal friends at times like Fourth of July. And when it's all over, maybe you could put out some seed and water to bring back the Birds? Your neighborhood Cats, and I, will thank you.

*Ed. Note: This statement is solely the opinion of the author, Luvlee, and does not in any way reflect the policies or opinions of the management of this blog.